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HISTORICAL SKETCH 



I OWA COLLEGE, 



PRESIDEI^T MAGOUI^. 



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HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



The first movement for tlie founding of Iowa College 
was made hj " a called meeting of ministers and others," 
held at Denmark, March 12, 1844. It was proposed to 
enter a to^mship of land, and by the sale thereof to set- 
tlers favorable to the enterprise commence an endow- 
ment. A committee of three was chosen to examine the 
location contemplated, who reported favorably to another 
and larger mecrlag April 16th. "The Iowa College As- 
sociation " was then formed, a board of Trustees agreed 
upon, an Executive Committee appointed, and an agent 
to secure funds for the entry of land employed. The 
agent, Rev. Asa Turner, Jr., went East immediately, 
(April 26,) his expenses being defrayed by the ministers 
composing the Association. He met in Boston (May 
28-9, ) gentlemen who had just organized the "Society 
for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Educa- 
tion at the "West " and others, who condemned the plan, 
and advised that a' location be first secured and a fund 
commenced from the gifts of the churches, and gave 
assurance that, through the new Society, "aid may be 
obtained when the plan and system of instruction shall 
be so matured that they can secure the confidence of the 
Eastern mind." The agent abandoned the original plan 



4 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

and returned witliout further effort. Had it been carried 
througli, in all probability it would have been highly suc- 
cessful, and the College long since had a large endow- 
ment, — the site proposed, which had been secured by a 
friend of the College, embracing a superior water power 
"in a section of country mostly subject to entry," and 
being now occupied by one of our largest and most pros- 
perous interior towns. The sympathies also of its friends 
in the State would have been enlisted and fostered as they 
could not be by years of weakness, suspense, and dis- 
heartenment. In June 1846 it was decided to locate at 
Davenport, "provided the citizens would raise $1,500 for 
buildings, aud furnish certain specified grounds for a 
site," and the members of the Association pledged them- 
selves to raise |100 each. Twelve Trustees were elected 
to secure a College charter, who incorporated themselves 
— with others — under the general incorporation law of 
the Territory, Burlington, June 4, 1847, at the last meet- 
ing of the Association. Although the amount named had 
not been yet subscribed ( $1,362 and thirteen lots secured ) 
the College was located at Davenport, and a building 
resolved upon — "not to exceed in cost $2,000." The 
members pledged themselves to meet within one year 
any deficiency in the necessary funds up to the amount of 
$600. In 1848 a Professor of Languages was secured 
(who was also Principal of the Preparatory Department) 
on a salary of $500 per annum, and the Preparatory De- 
partment opened ISTov. 1, 1848. In 1850 there were 26 stu- 
dents in Latin and 8 in Greek. The first Freshman Class 
of 6 was admitted to the College Department that fall. In 
1854 the first Senior Class of 2 was graduated, and there 
were 109 names on the Catalogue. In 1856 there were 
139. The Professorship of Mathematics was filled in 
1851, that of Natural Science in 1853, and that of Mental 
and Moral Science in 1855. (See General Catalogue 
published this year. ) Since the College was opened in 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 5 

1848 there have been in all, notwithstanding its interrupted 
sessions and crippled condition, more than a thousand 
young persons under instruction. 

But the work of raising funds was found, on the 
plan substituted for the original one, almost impossible 
to carry forward, though temporary agents were often 
appointed, sometimes a number of them, for the State 
and for the East. In 1849 at the meeting of the Congre- 
gational Association in Davenport, there was subscribed 
$442,65, — all but four of the subscribers being ministers. 
At the meeting at Dubuque in 1850 the sum of $450 was 
raised. "The wives also of the ministers, anxious to 
share in the enterprise of founding this College, resolved 
to raise $100 out of their own resources, and $70 was sub- 
scribed by fourteen persons who were present." At the 
meeting in Muscatine in 1852 the ministers again sub- 
scribed $153, and at the meeting in Mt. Pleasant in 1853, 
a subscription was made of $711. Dea. P. W. Carter, of 
Waterbury, Conn., gave that year $5,080 to endow the 
Professorship of Languages. In 1856 Eev. E. Adams, 
Agent, secured about $11,000 on subscription, a large 
part of which Avas realized. The Society for Western 
Colleges made appropriations from time to time to the 
amount of about $6,000, for current expenses. 

The College has never been attached to any ecclesias- 
tical body. Like the New England Colleges, founded by 
the fathers, its Charter requires neither Trustees nor In- 
structors to be connected with any particular denomina- 
tion. Although nearly all its support has come from 
Congregationalists, in Iowa and at the East, it has had 
both Trustees and' instructors of other denominations. 
Presbyterians (E. S.) were in the first Board and the 
original "Iowa College Association," and took part in 
the proceedings down to 1852, when the Des Moines 
Presbytery proposed to undertake the founding of a Pro- 
fessorship, on condition that it should be "always subject 



6 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

to the control of the Presbytery." The Trustees respond- 
ed that they would be happy to have the Professorship 
endowed on the principles "upon which the members of 
Des Moines Presbytery and the Congregational Associa- 
tion of Iowa united in founding the College, and the 
rules and regulations that are usually adopted in the 
endowment of Professorships in Literary Institutions." 
Nothing more was done by the Presbyterians, and they 
gradually ceased to be members of the Board of Trustees. 

The original site of the College was on the bluif in 
Davenport overlooking the river. The first building is 
now the residence of S. S. Gillett, Esq. In 1854 the city 
having laid out a street through the grounds, destroying 
their use for College purposes, and declining to vacate it 
on request of the Trustees, they were obliged to remove 
to a new location farther back. A fine stone building- 
was there erected, and a boarding house of wood. The 
new grounds were of great beauty, containing nearly ten 
acres, part of which however was granted to the public 
for adjacent streets. In 1857 the city took steps to extend 
a street through these grounds, and in 1858 it was decided 
to dispose of them and again remove. The funds of the 
College were insufficient to make needed improvements, 
or sustain the Faculty, — now consisting of four profess- 
ors, — the unsettled condition of things prevented pro- 
gress, — through misrepresentation and breach of trust by 
the financial ofiacer the treasury had become helplessly 
embarrassed, and in 1859 the property was sold to Bish- 
op H. "W. Lee and others for an Episcopal College, the 
first of the proceeds being devoted to liquidating the 
debts. Proposals were invited for a new site. 

Meantime, another institution had been founded at 
Grinnell, Poweshiek Co., by a colony from ISTew England. 
The town was laid out in May 1854, a building for wor- 
ship and school purposes being immediatel}' erected, and 
a church organized in May 1855.] ^" All funds arising 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 7 

from tlie sale of town lots over and above the original 
cost" were devoted to education, and in December 1855 
the " Grinnell University " was founded. " The Univer- 
sity was the soul, the animating spirit of the colony." 
A "Literary Fund" was commenced, by the payment of 
$20,00 to which any male citizen became an "Elector," 
with power to vote in the election of half the Trustees 
and the President. A school had been commenced in" 
1856 by the present Carter Prof, of Languages, which was 
now opened to students in the higher branches, of whom 
there were in 1859 more than thirty. The Trustees of the 
"University" oiFered the College the property of the 
institution, including site of twenty acres and the " Sem- 
inary" partly finished, together with an additional 
citizens' subscription, — which was accepted, Sept. 1858, 
and the College exercises at Davenport suspended in 
December. The College professors resigned, and in Sept. 
1859, preparatory classes were organized in the College 
building at Grinnell. The first Freshman class entered 
Sept. 1861. The present Prof, of Languages was elected 
in 1861, the President in 1862, the Prof of Mathematics 
in 1863, the Professors of Il^atural Science and Rhetoric, 
and the Principals of the Preparatory and Ladies' Depart- 
ments in 1864. Most of the instructors entered at once 
upon their duties. . 

In 1861, the Congregational churches raised, for cur- 
rent expenses of the College $285,97,' in 1862, $367,34, 
and in 1863, $ . In the Spring of that year Rev. J. 

C, Holbrook, of Dubuque, went East by arrangement 
with the Society for Western Colleges to obtain $2,000 
pledged by the Society to the current expenses of the 
College. It was agreed, upon earnest representation, 
that if he could secure pledges also for future endowment 
funds he should do so. The prospects of the government 
and the country were not bright ; benevolent contribu- 
tions had been diminished by the war; and ^A^^ources 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 892 429 8 

8 HISTORIOAL SKETCH. 

of the College Society so largely cut ofi" that a tract was 
issued by the Secretary to show that its mission was not 
yet ended, or disbanding a necessity. The success of the 
agency was unexpectedly so great in a short time as to 
induce the Society to consent to his raising $20,000 for 
endowment, and at length $50,000, of which about 
$40,000 has been secured — in funds and property — 
including a pledge of $10,000 from Hon. Samuel Willis- 
ton of East Hampton, Mass., conditioned upon the whole 
amount being obtained. This is the first general effort for 
an endowment, and is still going forward. Hon. James 
W. Grimes, U. S. Senator from Iowa, has recently given 
a section of land to found Scholarships, and other benefac 
tors are remembering the College with similar gifts. The 
Institution has now about $100,000 of property of which 
half is productive. It has seven instructors, including 
President, four Professors, and Principals of the Prepara- 
tory and Ladies' Departments. It has twenty-four grad- 
uates, — ten from the Ladies' Department, — and two 
hundred and eight undergraduates in the four depart- 
ments. The attendance during the last year has in- 
creased beyond all its accommodations, and Boarding and 
Lodging Houses have been provided which will accom- 
modate about seventy additional students. More recita- 
tion rooms, with larger library and cabinet rooms, and 
a chapel ■ of twice the capacity of the present one, are 
imperatively needed, as well as the endowments. The in- 
crease of students is such that more lodging rooms will 
be required as soon as they can be prepared, and rooms 
for a Normal Department or Training School for Teach- 
ers. A nobler or more promising opportunity for far-see- 
ing benevolence could hardly be opened, and donations 
for these objects are urgently requested from the fiiends 
of Christian Education in this and other States, 







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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



029 892 429 8 



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